Lou Ann, 20"x16" oil on linen

Lou Ann, our guest model for this week, brought with her a couple of scarves to the session, one with multiple blue and red patterns, and the other a simple one of 2 blues. I chose the simpler one and asked her to do something with it on her hair instead of wearing it around her neck. She simply wrapped it around her hair and let the end of it hang in front of her right shoulder.


One thing that is hard to avoid noticing when looking at Lou Ann's face is the brilliant sparkle in her eyes, which I thought was aptly complimented by the bright blues of the scarf. I wanted to express the youthful liveliness of her face in the painting.


I thought the light blue of the scarf could be obtained with cerulean blue, but I didn't have a tube of cerulean blue with me. So I used a mix of cobalt blue and viridian instead to make do.

Ed II, 20"x16" oil on linen

Last time Ed posed, I painted his right side in a three-quarter view.
So I decided to paint him from his left side this time. When I found out that it would be a shorter-than-usual session, starting late and ending early, I chose a profile view. I could have added more to the painting after the session ended, but I decided just let it be as it is and give it a more sketchy appearance.

I found a pale violet cloth in the drapery cabinet, which we hardly used before, to use as a backdrop. I didn't like the way it appeared against the undertone of the canvas, so I didn't expand it much beyond Ed’s front contour. The painting turned out to look more youthful than his age. I am sure he didn't mind.